# Harris County Court Records Scraper (`automation-lab/harris-county-court-records-scraper`) Actor Scrape public Harris County District Clerk new civil and criminal filing records into structured datasets. - **URL**: https://apify.com/automation-lab/harris-county-court-records-scraper.md - **Developed by:** [Stas Persiianenko](https://apify.com/automation-lab) (community) - **Categories:** Business, Lead generation - **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks - **User rating**: No ratings yet ## Pricing Pay per event This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events. Since this Actor supports Apify Store discounts, the price gets lower the higher subscription plan you have. Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/platform/actors/running/actors-in-store#pay-per-event ## What's an Apify Actor? Actors are a software tools running on the Apify platform, for all kinds of web data extraction and automation use cases. In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours, and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store. In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server. Actors are written with capital "A". ## How to integrate an Actor? If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects. You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready. The best way to integrate Actors is as follows. In JavaScript/TypeScript projects, use official [JavaScript/TypeScript client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js.md): ```bash npm install apify-client ``` In Python projects, use official [Python client library](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python.md): ```bash pip install apify-client ``` In shell scripts, use [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): ````bash # MacOS / Linux curl -fsSL https://apify.com/install-cli.sh | bash # Windows irm https://apify.com/install-cli.ps1 | iex ```bash In AI frameworks, you might use the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/platform/integrations/mcp.md). If your project is in a different language, use the [REST API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2.md). For usage examples, see the [API](#api) section below. For more details, see Apify documentation as [Markdown index](https://docs.apify.com/llms.txt) and [Markdown full-text](https://docs.apify.com/llms-full.txt). # README ## Harris County Court Records Scraper Extract public Harris County District Clerk court filing records from the anonymous public records portal. The actor focuses on fast, reliable new-filing monitoring for civil and criminal listings without logging in and without attempting to bypass CAPTCHA-protected document downloads. ### What does Harris County Court Records Scraper do? Harris County Court Records Scraper collects rows from the public Harris County District Clerk record listings. It currently supports: - โš–๏ธ Today's new civil filings - ๐Ÿš” Today's new criminal filings - ๐Ÿ“„ Case number and style fields - ๐Ÿ“… File dates - ๐Ÿ›๏ธ Court and case-region columns - ๐Ÿ”Ž Type of action or offense - ๐Ÿงพ Optional public viewer tokens found in listing buttons ### Who is it for? Legal operations teams can monitor new Harris County matters every day. Litigation researchers can collect newly filed civil case metadata for intake, market mapping, or docket monitoring. Journalists and public-record researchers can build repeatable datasets from county-level court records. Compliance teams can watch local criminal filing activity without manually opening the District Clerk site. Data vendors can enrich broader public-record pipelines with county-specific filing rows. ### Why use this actor? The public portal is an ASP.NET WebForms site. Manual scraping requires handling large HTML pages, public listing tables, inconsistent whitespace, and entity decoding. This actor wraps the public pages into a simple Apify dataset. You get structured rows, clear source provenance, and a repeatable run input. ### Data source The actor reads anonymous public pages from: `https://www.hcdistrictclerk.com/edocs/public/Search.aspx` The new-filing listing URLs are: - `Search.aspx?NewSuits=0` - `Search.aspx?NewSuits=1` The actor does not log in. The actor does not solve CAPTCHA. The actor does not download protected documents. ### Data fields | Field | Description | | --- | --- | | `recordType` | Civil or criminal new-filing mode. | | `sourceUrl` | Public listing URL used for the row. | | `county` | Harris. | | `state` | Texas. | | `courtSystem` | Harris County District Clerk. | | `caseNumber` | Case/cause number as displayed. | | `style` | Case style, such as plaintiff vs. defendant or State of Texas vs. defendant. | | `fileDate` | Filing date displayed by the portal. | | `court` | Court column value. | | `caseRegion` | Civil or Criminal region value. | | `typeOfActionOrOffense` | Civil action type or criminal offense text. | | `detailToken` | Optional encrypted public case-detail token from the listing HTML. | | `documentImageToken` | Optional encrypted public image-viewer token when present. | | `scrapedAt` | ISO timestamp when the row was scraped. | ### How much does it cost to scrape Harris County court records? The actor uses pay-per-event pricing. There is a small start event per run and a per-record event for each saved row. Use a low `maxItems` value for testing. Increase `maxItems` for daily monitoring or back-office exports. Final platform pricing is visible on the Apify Store page before you start a run. ### Input options #### `recordTypes` Choose which listing pages to scrape. Allowed values: - `civilNewFilings` - `criminalNewFilings` #### `maxItems` Maximum records saved across all selected listing pages. Default: `50`. Maximum: `500`. #### `includeViewerTokens` Advanced option. When enabled, the actor includes encrypted public tokens from the site's case-detail and document-viewer buttons. These tokens are useful for traceability and debugging. They are not direct stable document URLs. ### Example input ```json { "recordTypes": ["civilNewFilings", "criminalNewFilings"], "maxItems": 25, "includeViewerTokens": false } ```` ### Example output ```json { "recordType": "civilNewFilings", "sourceUrl": "https://www.hcdistrictclerk.com/edocs/public/Search.aspx?NewSuits=0", "county": "Harris", "state": "Texas", "courtSystem": "Harris County District Clerk", "caseNumber": "202639824- 7", "style": "LE, AHN vs. COLONIAL COUNTY MUTUAL INSURANCE COMPANY", "fileDate": "6/12/2026", "court": "061", "caseRegion": "Civil", "typeOfActionOrOffense": "Motor Vehicle Accident", "scrapedAt": "2026-06-13T08:26:29.085Z" } ``` ### How to run 1. Open the actor on Apify. 2. Select one or both record types. 3. Set `maxItems`. 4. Leave viewer tokens disabled unless you need them. 5. Click Start. 6. Export the dataset as JSON, CSV, Excel, or via API. ### Tips for better results Run the actor after the county portal has posted new records for the day. Select both civil and criminal modes for broad daily monitoring. Use separate scheduled runs if you want separate datasets per record type. Keep `maxItems` small for smoke tests. Use `scrapedAt` to compare daily snapshots. ### Integrations Use this actor with Apify schedules for daily filing monitoring. Connect the dataset to Google Sheets for paralegal review queues. Send dataset exports to a data warehouse for public-record trend analysis. Trigger a webhook when new rows are scraped. Feed records into a deduplication workflow keyed by `caseNumber` and `recordType`. ### API usage with Node.js ```javascript import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client'; const client = new ApifyClient({ token: process.env.APIFY_TOKEN }); const run = await client.actor('automation-lab/harris-county-court-records-scraper').call({ recordTypes: ['civilNewFilings', 'criminalNewFilings'], maxItems: 25, }); const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems(); console.log(items); ``` ### API usage with Python ```python from apify_client import ApifyClient client = ApifyClient('MY-APIFY-TOKEN') run = client.actor('automation-lab/harris-county-court-records-scraper').call(run_input={ 'recordTypes': ['civilNewFilings', 'criminalNewFilings'], 'maxItems': 25, }) items = client.dataset(run['defaultDatasetId']).list_items().items print(items) ``` ### API usage with cURL ```bash curl -X POST "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/automation-lab~harris-county-court-records-scraper/runs?token=$APIFY_TOKEN" \ -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \ -d '{"recordTypes":["civilNewFilings","criminalNewFilings"],"maxItems":25}' ``` ### MCP usage Use the Apify MCP server to call this actor from Claude Code, Claude Desktop, Cursor, or VS Code. MCP URL: `https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=automation-lab/harris-county-court-records-scraper` #### Claude Code setup Add the Apify MCP server with HTTP transport: ```bash claude mcp add apify-harris-county-court-records --transport http "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=automation-lab/harris-county-court-records-scraper" ``` #### Claude Desktop setup Add this server to your Claude Desktop MCP configuration: ```json { "mcpServers": { "apify-harris-county-court-records": { "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=automation-lab/harris-county-court-records-scraper" } } } ``` Restart Claude Desktop after saving the configuration. #### Cursor setup In Cursor, open MCP settings, add a new HTTP server, name it `apify-harris-county-court-records`, and use this URL: `https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=automation-lab/harris-county-court-records-scraper` #### VS Code setup In VS Code with an MCP-capable assistant extension, add a new HTTP MCP server named `apify-harris-county-court-records` and paste the same Apify MCP URL: `https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=automation-lab/harris-county-court-records-scraper` Example prompts: - "Run the Harris County Court Records Scraper for today's civil filings and summarize action types." - "Collect today's criminal filings and group them by court." - "Compare yesterday's dataset with today's new Harris County filings." ### Scheduling A common setup is one daily run for civil filings and one daily run for criminal filings. Use Apify schedules to run after business hours or early morning. Store historical datasets for daily deltas. ### Limitations The actor extracts public listing rows only. It does not access private accounts. It does not solve CAPTCHA. It does not download court documents. It does not guarantee that the county website has posted new records at the time of your run. ### FAQ #### Does this actor require a Harris County account? No. It uses anonymous public listing pages only. #### Does it download court documents? No. Document flows can include additional controls, so this actor limits scope to public listing metadata. #### Can I monitor civil and criminal filings together? Yes. Select both `civilNewFilings` and `criminalNewFilings` in `recordTypes`. #### Why do I see fewer records than `maxItems`? The public portal may expose fewer records than requested for the selected listing pages at run time. ### Troubleshooting If the run returns fewer rows than expected, increase `maxItems` or check whether the public portal currently lists enough filings. If the run returns zero rows, the county portal may be temporarily unavailable or the public table markup may have changed. If you need document downloads, this actor is not the right tool because the portal protects document flows with additional controls. ### Legality and responsible use This actor is designed for publicly available court-record metadata. Review the Harris County District Clerk terms and applicable laws before using data in production. Do not use scraped data for unlawful discrimination, harassment, or prohibited background-check workflows. Respect privacy and data-retention requirements that apply to your organization. ### Related scrapers Other Automation Lab actors that may be useful: - https://apify.com/automation-lab/court-records-scraper - https://apify.com/automation-lab/google-search-scraper - https://apify.com/automation-lab/website-health-report ### Dataset exports Apify datasets can be exported as: - JSON - JSONL - CSV - Excel - XML - RSS Use CSV or Excel for legal operations review. Use JSONL for data pipelines. ### Reliability notes The scraper uses HTTP requests instead of a browser. This keeps runs inexpensive and quick. The source pages are large, so the parser targets the public `searchTable` element directly. Whitespace and HTML entities are normalized before records are saved. ### Version notes Version 0.1 focuses on new civil and criminal filing listings. Future versions may add more public search modes if they can be handled without login, CAPTCHA bypass, or unstable browser automation. # Actor input Schema ## `recordTypes` (type: `array`): Choose which anonymous public Harris County District Clerk listing pages to scrape. ## `maxItems` (type: `integer`): Maximum number of court records to save across all selected listing pages. ## `includeViewerTokens` (type: `boolean`): Include encrypted tokens used by the public website's case-detail and document-viewer buttons. The actor does not download CAPTCHA-protected documents. ## Actor input object example ```json { "recordTypes": [ "civilNewFilings", "criminalNewFilings" ], "maxItems": 20, "includeViewerTokens": false } ``` # Actor output Schema ## `overview` (type: `string`): No description # API You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup. ## JavaScript example ```javascript import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client'; // Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token // Replace the '' with your token const client = new ApifyClient({ token: '', }); // Prepare Actor input const input = { "recordTypes": [ "civilNewFilings", "criminalNewFilings" ], "maxItems": 20, "includeViewerTokens": false }; // Run the Actor and wait for it to finish const run = await client.actor("automation-lab/harris-county-court-records-scraper").call(input); // Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any) console.log('Results from dataset'); console.log(`๐Ÿ’พ Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`); const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems(); items.forEach((item) => { console.dir(item); }); // ๐Ÿ“š Want to learn more ๐Ÿ“–? Go to โ†’ https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs ``` ## Python example ```python from apify_client import ApifyClient # Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token # Replace '' with your token. client = ApifyClient("") # Prepare the Actor input run_input = { "recordTypes": [ "civilNewFilings", "criminalNewFilings", ], "maxItems": 20, "includeViewerTokens": False, } # Run the Actor and wait for it to finish run = client.actor("automation-lab/harris-county-court-records-scraper").call(run_input=run_input) # Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any) print("๐Ÿ’พ Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/" + run["defaultDatasetId"]) for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items(): print(item) # ๐Ÿ“š Want to learn more ๐Ÿ“–? Go to โ†’ https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start ``` ## CLI example ```bash echo '{ "recordTypes": [ "civilNewFilings", "criminalNewFilings" ], "maxItems": 20, "includeViewerTokens": false }' | apify call automation-lab/harris-county-court-records-scraper --silent --output-dataset ``` ## MCP server setup ```json { "mcpServers": { "apify": { "command": "npx", "args": [ "mcp-remote", "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=automation-lab/harris-county-court-records-scraper", "--header", "Authorization: Bearer " ] } } } ``` ## OpenAPI specification ```json { "openapi": "3.0.1", "info": { "title": "Harris County Court Records Scraper", "description": "Scrape public Harris County District Clerk new civil and criminal filing records into structured datasets.", "version": "0.1", "x-build-id": "5xYcxF5tsnxdqGWX4" }, "servers": [ { "url": "https://api.apify.com/v2" } ], "paths": { "/acts/automation-lab~harris-county-court-records-scraper/run-sync-get-dataset-items": { "post": { "operationId": "run-sync-get-dataset-items-automation-lab-harris-county-court-records-scraper", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for its completion, and returns Actor's dataset items in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema" } } } }, "parameters": [ { "name": "token", "in": "query", "required": true, "schema": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Enter your Apify token here" } ], "responses": { "200": { "description": "OK" } } } }, "/acts/automation-lab~harris-county-court-records-scraper/runs": { "post": { "operationId": "runs-sync-automation-lab-harris-county-court-records-scraper", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor and returns information about the initiated run in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema" } } } }, "parameters": [ { "name": "token", "in": "query", "required": true, "schema": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Enter your Apify token here" } ], "responses": { "200": { "description": "OK", "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/runsResponseSchema" } } } } } } }, "/acts/automation-lab~harris-county-court-records-scraper/run-sync": { "post": { "operationId": "run-sync-automation-lab-harris-county-court-records-scraper", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for completion, and returns the OUTPUT from Key-value store in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema" } } } }, "parameters": [ { "name": "token", "in": "query", "required": true, "schema": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Enter your Apify token here" } ], "responses": { "200": { "description": "OK" } } } } }, "components": { "schemas": { "inputSchema": { "type": "object", "properties": { "recordTypes": { "title": "Record types", "type": "array", "description": "Choose which anonymous public Harris County District Clerk listing pages to scrape.", "items": { "type": "string", "enum": [ "civilNewFilings", "criminalNewFilings" ], "enumTitles": [ "Today's New Civil Filings", "Today's New Criminal Filings" ] }, "default": [ "civilNewFilings", "criminalNewFilings" ] }, "maxItems": { "title": "Maximum records", "minimum": 1, "maximum": 500, "type": "integer", "description": "Maximum number of court records to save across all selected listing pages.", "default": 50 }, "includeViewerTokens": { "title": "Include public viewer tokens", "type": "boolean", "description": "Include encrypted tokens used by the public website's case-detail and document-viewer buttons. The actor does not download CAPTCHA-protected documents.", "default": false } } }, "runsResponseSchema": { "type": "object", "properties": { "data": { "type": "object", "properties": { "id": { "type": "string" }, "actId": { "type": "string" }, "userId": { "type": "string" }, "startedAt": { "type": "string", "format": "date-time", "example": "2025-01-08T00:00:00.000Z" }, "finishedAt": { "type": "string", "format": "date-time", "example": "2025-01-08T00:00:00.000Z" }, "status": { "type": "string", "example": "READY" }, "meta": { "type": "object", "properties": { "origin": { "type": "string", "example": "API" }, "userAgent": { "type": "string" } } }, "stats": { "type": "object", "properties": { "inputBodyLen": { "type": "integer", "example": 2000 }, "rebootCount": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "restartCount": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "resurrectCount": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "computeUnits": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 } } }, "options": { "type": "object", "properties": { "build": { "type": "string", "example": "latest" }, "timeoutSecs": { "type": "integer", "example": 300 }, "memoryMbytes": { "type": "integer", "example": 1024 }, "diskMbytes": { "type": "integer", "example": 2048 } } }, "buildId": { "type": "string" }, "defaultKeyValueStoreId": { "type": "string" }, "defaultDatasetId": { "type": "string" }, "defaultRequestQueueId": { "type": "string" }, "buildNumber": { "type": "string", "example": "1.0.0" }, "containerUrl": { "type": "string" }, "usage": { "type": "object", "properties": { "ACTOR_COMPUTE_UNITS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 1 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_LISTS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_INTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_EXTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_RESIDENTIAL_TRANSFER_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_SERPS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 } } }, "usageTotalUsd": { "type": "number", "example": 0.00005 }, "usageUsd": { "type": "object", "properties": { "ACTOR_COMPUTE_UNITS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_WRITES": { "type": "number", "example": 0.00005 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_LISTS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_INTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_EXTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_RESIDENTIAL_TRANSFER_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_SERPS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 } } } } } } } } } } ```